Well, this is what happene!

I was stringing a three strand necklace with a cool pentacle charm I had found online. I was super excited about this 3 strand clasp I was going to use. Until I realized that I had strung one side of the clasp upside down! NOOOOOOO!!!! So what does Amber do when Amber get’s angry at a craft project? She cuts the string mid point and the beads go flying!

I was totally upset for all of 30 seconds. I had just fussed with these stone chip beads and wire that was probably way too small for almost an hour just to have to cut it and start over.

I hope to have a finished picture of this project by the end of this weekend. THis is of course, counting on me not totally effing up again and throwing the damn bead tray across the room. Crafts as a destresser? Hmmmmm I gotta think on that one!

In other news I am going to start the process of merging this blog with my chaoticallycrafty one. I don’t feel it makes much sense to separate the craftiness out of my life blog. It IS part of my life.  This site will still point to that blog but I’ll warn you all when you should change your bookmarks so you’re not thinking something spammy and scammy has happened!

Have a fabulous day!

On January 1, 2010 Disney started a program to get 1 million people to volunteer in their communities. They called it “Give a Day Get a Day.”They offered a free Disney park 1 day pass to anyone who committed to and went through with one day of volunteer work. With work and school I didn’t think that I’d have the time to volunteer. Everything turned around for me 3 weeks ago. A friend told me that a local charity was allowing people to knit and crochet hats that they would then give to breast cancer patients. I love crocheting so I thought I’d give it a go! Then my family wanted to do it too.

I settled on the Knifty Knitter to make my hats and taught each member of my family how to use it to make hats. It took us all 3 weeks but, we got them done! It was a challenge at first. I was starting to only crochet the hats. I found my wrists hurting though. I was crocheting for almost 4 hours a day and wasn’t making much progress. The good feeling I was getting for helping out those with breast cancer was being overwhelmed by the bad feelings in my wrists and arms.  We picked up speed and rested my wrists after we switched to the round loom though.

I put the hats in the mail yesterday. I feel so good that our family could help out such a cause and i will continue to make hats for this charity between each project. I just hope that everyone that volunteered to get Disney tickets continues to volunteer after their trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Today when I woke up I felt the need to post a blog entry. I realized that even though things are tough right now I have a lot to be thankful for.

Here’s my list! These are in no particular order.

• Family – Without them I would be nowhere. I’d be on my ass and miserable. Thank you!
• Friends – I have such amazing friends. They support me emotionally and creatively. We have our BS drama sometimes but I LOVE each one of you.
• Job – I love my job and I am thankful everyday that I found such a “me” place to work. I’m accepted for who I am there and everyone works with me despite my “disability.” Nobody even seems to care that I’m visually impaired.
• My Birdie Cat – She’s my baby. I am so lucky to have her. Though she can be an ever loving pain in the ass she is still an amazing and intelligent cat (even if she DID try to pounce on the turkey last night!)
• Creativity – My creativity is my life. I am thankful everyday that I was born with such an endless amount of it.
• Life – I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to live through so many different things weather they be good or bad. Every part of my life has been something to learn from and I have.

What are you thankful for? I don’t think we say it enough. We wait until the holidays to get all sentimental and start saying how thankful we are for things. It’s like the rest of the year just doesn’t matter. I think we need to start talking about the things in our life that we’re thankful for and that we’re happy about.

My  Dad even loved this recipe and he is super picky ëverything needs more salt and pepper”man.

So here is the recipe. I have decided you can omit the potato and supbstitute shirataki noodles in their place to drastically lessen the calories. I’m doing that tomorrow for lunch with the leftovers. This recipe serves 2 and I doubled everything to make it for 4. I had to thicken up the mixture with a teeny of flour but if you just use a little less of the broth you shouldn’t have a problem.

Beef & Vegetable Stroganoff-Topped Potato

Start to Finish: 25 mins
Makes: 2 svgs. (svg size= ½ potato & 1 ½ cups stroganoff)

1 medium baking potato
1 tsp. olive oil
4oz. beef flank steak, cut across grain into thin bite-size strips
1c. sliced fresh mushrooms
½ tsp. garlic powder (I used minced garlic b/c we’re garlic fiends!)
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 can Progresso Light Savory Vegetable Barley Soup (18.5oz.)
¼c. fat-free sour cream
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 small onion

1. Generously pierce potato with fork. Place on microwavable paper towel. Microwave on High 4-5 minutes, turning once, until tender. Cover, let stand covered 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over high heat. Add beef, mushrooms and onion; sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper. Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently., just until beef is browned and vegetables begin to soften.

3. Stir in soup. Heat to boiling. Cook uncovered over high heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream.

4. To serve, place ½ potato on each serving plate. Top each with 1 ½ cups of beef mixture; sprinkle each with 1 tbsp. parsley.

PER SERVING:
330 CALORIES
9G FAT
3G SAT FAT
0G TRANS FAT
35MG CHOLESTEROL
880MG SODIUM
44G CARBS
7G FIBER
17G PROTEIN
1100MG POTASSIUM
*WW POINTS PER SVG: 7

I guess this is normal? Blogs and their writers are ever changing. I want to make sure I still want to write this after a year, 2 years, and so on. If I get bored with a rigid schedule I’m not going to keep up.

QUESTION – What do YOU think about structured blogs with a set schedule?

I wanted to also let you all know that with the move to self hosting there will be a bit of dust over the next couple weeks. While I work on the ins and outs of this new adventure please excuse any lack of posting or communication that may occur.